CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

Sunday, November 11, 2007

1. Bored-hole/cast-in-place piles 4–10 m long tend to retain a constant value of the unit bearing capacity, irrespective of soil moisture. Driven piles, and piles cast in punched holes, undergo a loss unit bearing capacity (up to 20%) as their length is increased.2. With the saturation of high-porosity collapsible soils, the unit bearing capacity of bored-hole/cast-in-situ piles up to 10 m long diminishes two to three times, on average. For cast-in-place piles installed in a punched hole, and for driven piles, this reduction ranges up to only 30%. This trend is characteristic of soil layers whose collapsibility properties diminish with depth, from 2–3% to 1–1.5%.3. The unit bearing capacity of cast-in-place piles installed in punched holes is equal to that of driven piles, both for saturated and dry soil conditions.4. Following soil compaction, the unit bearing capacity of concrete cast-in-place piles installed in punched holes is higher than for bored-hole/cast-in-place piles, in the ratio of up to 2 for slightly moistened soils and 3–3.5 for saturated soils.5. All other conditions being equal, the unit bearing capacity is greater for driven piles, and somewhat smaller (by 10–15%) for piles cast in punched holes. The smallest unit bearing capacity is observed in bored-hole/cast-in-place piles (1.5–2 times less than for driven piles).Translated from Osnovaniya, Fundamenty i Mekhanika Gruntov, No. 4, pp. 14–15

A method of making a low distortion frame construction, the construction having joint regions formed by first and second overlapping members defining a lapped interface, the joint regions being comprised of material that can be converted to a solid state deformable plastic condition by friction heat, comprising:

(a) providing a stir friction welding tool having(i) a rotatable thermally conductive body presenting a shoulder to engage the joint region for storing friction-generated heat, and(ii) a friction generating pin rotatable with said body about a pin axis and selectively extendable from the shoulder to progressively penetrate the overlapping members as the joint region in contact with the pin becomes plastic;

(b) placing the tool shoulder against the joint region with the pin axis transverse to the lapped interface and spinning the body while progressively extending the pin at a rotational speed effective to generate friction heat that converts the adjacent material of the joint to a plastic condition allowing the spinning of the probe to stir such plastically converted material; and

(c) controlling the depth of penetration of the spinning probe while translating the tool across the joint region to perfect a friction stirred welded zone that extends through the interface and between the overlapping members to provide a welded joint that is exceptionally strong in shea